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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cap — a hat
  6. degree — an amount
  7. tear — from crying
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. lie — to recline
  10. plane — a tool
  11. cap — a lid
  12. cap — of ice
  13. bat — the animal
  14. tear — to rip
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. rash — a series
  18. degree — temperature
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. rash — hasty
  21. tear — from crying
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. degree — from a university

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com